The novel “The Nightmare of Black Island” by Mike Tucker was published for the first time in 2006.
While the Tardis is in flight, Rose Tyler is sleeping but her rest is disturbed by a nightmare. When she wakes up, the Tenth Doctor is puzzled because the Tardis was showing signs of discomfort as if she was having a nightmare along with Rose. This means that there’s some telepathic emission that causes those bad dreams. He wants to look into the issue, trace a route to its source and the Tardis arrives at Ynys Du, a Welsh village.
The arrival of the Doctor and Rose is worthy of the nightmare because they find strange spots of blood on the ground and suddenly they are reached by a group of monstrous creatures. The two of them manage to escape and find shelter in a pub full of locals. There they discover that the village nights are tormented by those monsters but what’s the involvement of Nathaniel Morton, a millionaire born there who recently came back?
“The Nightmare of Black Island” is part of a series of novels connected to the new “Doctor Who” series. They’re targeted to a wide audience by being linear enough to be appreciated even by very young readers but sophisticated enough to interest more mature readers.
“The Nightmare of Black Island” begins with horror story tones. In the Welsh village of Ynys Du, a man is killed while Rose has a nightmare about that event while she’s sleeping in the Tardis. That’s “Doctor Who” so the Doctor understand that this is an telepathic emission because it was also received by the Tardis and he can locate it. In Wales, other monsters are waiting the two travelers.
The village of Ynys Du seems haunted by monsters and many of the residents blame Nathaniel Morton, who had left the village many years ago and recently returned to it. The man opened a sort of nursing home but they keep isolated from the village and between him and an Ynys Du’s elderly woman named Bronwyn there are old grievances. The Doctor must first try to tell voices from the facts that can help him understand what’s going on.
The novel focuses on the Doctor’s investigation to find out the origin of the monsters and their possible link with the return of Nathaniel Morton to Ynys Du. It’s a story that can be truly appreciated by a large audience due to the presence of people of all ages, from the children to the elderly.
“The Nightmare of Black Island” contains many characters and Mike Tucker must inevitably resort to some cliches to describe them in a few words. Nevertheless, I think he did a good job to get a complex story in which there are many interactions between the travelers and the residents of Ynys Du.
While the Doctor investigates in his own way on Nathaniel Morton and his mysterious nursing home, Rose acts as a sort of big sister to the children of the village. It does especially with some of them who secretly have found something that can help the Doctor to solve the mystery.
The result is a rather complex story. Several discoveries of the Doctor are anything but surprising but Mike Tucker manages to mix well elements of the plot that aren’t exactly original with the past and present histories of some of the villagers. It’s a story that has roots that go back several decades, when Nathaniel Morton and the other villagers were kids, and that strengthens it.
Throughout the novel there are references to the characters’ emotions. Given the horror elements of the story, there’s mainly the fear of the people of Ynys Du. This is another strong element of “The Nightmare of Black Island” because it makes the reader sympathize with them.
“The Nightmare of Black Island” is set during the second season of the new series of “Doctor Who”. For this reason, contains several references to previous adventures of the Doctor and Rose, sometimes explicit other indirect. Acknowledge them can be a sort of game for fans of the series.
Despite the widespread use of cliches, I think Mike Tucker has done a good job with “The Nightmare of Black Island” making it really enjoyable. For this reason, I recommend it to anyone looking to buy a “Doctor Who” novel.
